The Olympic Park Bombing Part 4 | Fallon Stubbs on Remembering Alice Hawthorne
Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum
iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline
4.4 • 696 Ratings
🗓️ 17 September 2025
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Part 4 of the Olympic Park bombing series, Sheryl McCollum talks with Fallon Stubbs about her mother, Alice Hawthorne. Fallon recalls Alice’s influence as a devoted mother and businessperson, and the way she uplifted those around her. She shares memories of leaders who visited her in the hospital after the bombing and reflects on carrying Alice’s words, spirit, and legacy into her own life.
At just 14 years old, Fallon Stubbs was standing beside her mother, Alice Hawthorne, in Centennial Olympic Park when a bomb exploded during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. She was injured by shrapnel and required surgery, while Alice lost her life in the blast. Today, Fallon honors her mother’s memory with deep respect and love, sharing her story of resilience, family, and purpose.
Missed the previous episodes?
- Listen to Part 1 with Irv Brandt
- Listen to Part 2 with Kent Alexander
- Listen to Part 3 with Dana Jewell
Highlights:
- (0:00) Sheryl welcomes Fallon Stubbs and remembers Alice Hawthorne
- (5:00) Memories of Alice as a devoted mother and businessperson
- (9:45) Alice's influence in Albany and the community she uplifted
- (12:30) Ambassador Andrew Young, Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Reverend Joseph E. Lowery visit Fallon in the hospital
- (22:00) Fallon recounts the bombing and her last moments with her mother
- (28:30) "Take the damn picture” — how Sheryl reframed Fallon’s last words into a message of love
- (30:15) Fallon reflects on carrying Alice’s memory and living with purpose
- (34:30) Sheryl closes with words from Andrew Young and Fallon Stubbs
Enjoying Zone 7? Leave a rating and review. Your feedback helps others find the show and supports our mission to educate and investigate.
---
Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an Emmy Award-winning CSI, a writer for CrimeOnline, forensic and crime scene expert for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, and co-author of the textbook Cold Case: Pathways to Justice. She is the founder and director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, a national collaboration that advances techniques for solving cold cases and assists families and law enforcement with unsolved homicides, missing persons, and kidnappings.
Social Links:
- Email: [email protected]
- Twitter: @ColdCaseTips
- Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum
- Instagram: @officialzone7podcast
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:11.4 | The Olympic Park bombing caused the death of two people. |
| 0:16.4 | One, a cameraman from Turkey with a heart attack. |
| 0:19.9 | And the other, 44-year-old Alice Hawthorne from Albany, Georgia. |
| 0:26.1 | I never met Alice Hawthorne, but I met her brave, smart, and beautiful 14-year-old daughter Fallon. |
| 0:36.1 | Fallon and I have only met in person once. |
| 0:40.5 | It was just after she got out of surgery, one of her first surgeries, after she was |
| 0:47.0 | injured in the Olympic Park bombing, 1996, July 27, at approximately 120 a.m. |
| 0:56.0 | Now, I never forgot her. |
| 0:59.0 | And every year on the anniversary, I message her. |
| 1:03.0 | Sorry, I got a little choked up. |
| 1:08.0 | Sorry. |
| 1:09.0 | That is, I did as well. |
| 1:11.4 | That means so much to me that after all of these years you have not forgotten. |
| 1:19.4 | You are a person of intent. |
| 1:22.2 | And I am very, very grateful for this opportunity to speak with you in particular, because it's never for |
| 1:30.9 | anything else, as far as my standpoint, is concerned with our interactions. You genuinely seem to |
| 1:39.6 | wholeheartedly care about me and my mother and my family in totality. And that's really hard to find as we |
| 1:49.3 | maneuver through this world in any capacity at 14 or 43. So I thank you so much for that. |
| 1:56.2 | And it means the world to me. So anytime that I can do anything for you in any capacity, |
| 2:00.8 | I would be more |
| 2:02.1 | than gracious to lend my time, energy efforts to whatever you have going. So I'm very excited |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.